Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in Nevada

Yes. NRS 613.430(2) provides that when a complaint is filed with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission or the EEOC, the limitation provided by that section is tolled during the pendency of the complaint. NRS 613.430(1)(b) then gives you until 90 days after issuance of the letter described in NRS 613.420(1) or 90 days after receipt of a right to sue notice, whichever of those and the 180 days is later. This is why the agency step matters in Nevada even to someone who only wants to sue.

There are two routes. Under NRS 613.412, once 180 days have passed since you filed your complaint, the commission shall issue a right to sue notice upon request from you, and NRS 233.160(5) requires the commission to inform you of that right as soon as practicable after it receives the complaint. Under NRS 613.420(1), if the commission does not conclude that an unfair employment practice occurred, it must issue a letter, a right to sue notice, and basic information about filing with the EEOC. Either way, the 90 day window runs from receipt, so record the date the notice arrives.

No, and Nevada does not provide a smaller employer alternative. NRS 613.310(2) defines an employer as any person with 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, which is the federal Title VII threshold copied over. It excludes the United States or a corporation wholly owned by it, any Indian tribe, and any private membership club exempt under 26 U.S.C. 501(c). NRS 613.320(1)(a) also excludes employment outside Nevada. Public employers are inside the statute, because NRS 613.310(5) defines person to include the State of Nevada and its political subdivisions.

Because Nevada never wrote it in. A search of the full text of NRS 613 and NRS 233 returns no occurrence of harassment, sexual harassment, or hostile work environment in the employment provisions. What NRS 613.330(1) prohibits is failing or refusing to hire, discharging, or otherwise discriminating against a person with respect to compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of a protected characteristic. Harassment claims are brought under that language. Do not read the statute's silence as meaning Nevada permits workplace harassment.

Yes in the statute itself, with one large exception. NRS 613.330(1) lists sexual orientation and gender identity or expression alongside race, color, religion, sex, age, disability and national origin, so they are express classes rather than something read into sex. NRS 613.350(6) also requires an employer that enforces reasonable appearance and dress standards to allow an employee to appear, groom and dress consistent with the employee's gender identity or expression. The exception is NRS 613.320(2), which provides that the sexual orientation and gender identity provisions do not apply to an organization exempt from taxation under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3).

It ends the matter. NRS 233.170(1) and (2) provide that if the parties settle at the informal meeting, or the respondent agrees to cease the practice after the investigation, no further action may be taken by the complainant or by the commission. NRS 233.160(1) is a related trap at the front end: you cannot file with the commission at all if another state or federal administrative body with comparable jurisdiction has already decided a complaint based on the same facts and legal theory. There is also no right to a hearing, because NRS 233.170(3) says the commission may hold a public hearing rather than must.